For Zero's True Requiem
by Honore - Form. MerlintoVivian
Summary: If one were asked to rewrite history, what would the answer be? In the aftermath of betrayal, Lelouch is presented this very same question.


**Disclaimer: ONLY Code Geass and all associated intellectual properties belong to its owners. The ideas are mine.**

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><p>"You're dead."<p>

Rolo's scent lingered like rot over him. The once-regal clothes of Zero, torn and worn, were like broken, useless wings. The equally valueless mask lay as if forgotten beside the campfire.

"In a matter of speaking." The form of the child-god, V.V. stared back at him. He allowed himself one shiver of revulsion before replying.

"Does the power of Geass know no bounds then? What do you think, witch? And how did you escape the Ikaruga?"

V.V's apparition would be understandable – a hallucination born from stress and the vast emptiness of his soul disgorging for him the dregs of all his mistakes – if it were not for the presence of C.C standing beside him. All trace of the "rebooted" personality was gone from her face, from her manner of being. She seemed to have returned: the wise, ageless witch that he'd known for a long time. He supposed he should be elated, but this bizarre situation, coming so soon after the betrayal and subsequent loss, was a completely unexpected thing.

"We are not who we seem to be, Lelouch vi Britannia."

"Stop it. I am no longer that man. And cease your riddle-talk. I am not in the mood for frivolous pursuits. Not now. So," he took a breathe of the cold night air. His eyes sought V.V's, whose solemn, sincere expression he now saw, marked by grief. "What can I do for my hallucinations, or alternatively, the forces of Geass?"

"What makes you think, again, that we are who we are?" she asked.

Lelouch loosened his black gloves. "Then who are you, to claim that you are not who are?"

"Before that, Lelouch, confirm our trust." V.V stepped forward, and after a blinding flash which caused him to look away, presented something that looked like a book. "Can you see this? If so, could you read it?"

Lelouch felt the book's heaviness from the moment he touched it. It was like the child had given him a big, solid rock. The book looked archaic, the cover vague and unmarked, with only a single symbol on the spine: the symbol of Geass. His own grief lessened by the bubbling of curiosity, Lelouch opened the book to a random page.

"It's blank."

"Ah." There was disappointment in both of their voices. C.C approached to receive the book back. "We apologize. We had hoped-"

"Pretty convincing for hallucinations," he remarked. "You're even able to have me say, 'I'm sorry to disappoint'."

"Wait-" V.V said, making an abrupt movement. "Go to the first page."

Lelouch sighed, flipping the book open again. The first page-

"Nothing."

"And now the last," V.V said insistedtly.

"Your games are in bad taste. I've a father to overthrow, an Empire to destroy-" he stopped, his speech lost in his throat, when he saw what was on the page. On top of it was a symbol, shaped like a stylish form of the Geass sigil. Below was a text in tiny script, barely filling up an eighths of the page. Lelouch narrowed his eyes to see-

"_We've found him, sister," 'V.V' said with barely suppressed relief. The Holder was surprised, instantly letting go of the Chronicle-_

The book dropped to the ground with a thump, the last page still held wide open. He glared suspicously at the two, instantly thinking of the ways in which such a device was possible. He looked back down-

_and the holder read the text on the Chronicle's page as it was being written, uncannily narrating his every thought, intent, movement and action, everything he had done, and everything he would do, though neglecting his innermost thoughts, his calculations, his predictions and logical conclusions, as he correctly surmised at this very moment, as he read-_

"What- What is the meaning of this?" Lelouch said tremulously. He lunged for C.C, clutching at her arm. Flesh – warm. Alive. Real. "What kind of Geass power-"

"It is not Geass," V.V corrected.

"But not entirely unrelated," C.C added. She continued in a gentle tone, "Please pick the Chronicle back up, Lelouch. We have much work to do."

"Take our hands," V.V ordered, in a voice that was no longer the god-child's voice, but a seeming amalgamation of many different voices at once. "And we shall bring you to a place you might be familiar with." With nothing to lose, Lelouch reached out his hand, and after seeing a red flash, felt himself being sucked away from the world.

And in the next instant, surety returned. He stood on his feet, his senses focused and his mouth opened, pronouncing with certainty, "The World of C."

It was different from what he remembered, but at the same time, similar. There was the color of unending sunset, the portrait of ruins before him and in the distance. But in his immediate area, rising amidst the fallen rubble were many stone stairs, stretching up, down and across each other as far as his eye could discern. Before him was one such staircase, gold and ornate and stretching up into empty space to a place he couldn't see.

"A subspace," C.C said. "Belonging to the same sea of consciousness that composes the World of C, but is completely independent of and in the right circumstances, overlaps and even overrides through the cosmic barriers set up by the World, influencing its composition through superpositional phenomena."

"The right circumstances including the plan your father has called the Ragnarok Connection-"

"The _what_?"

"And temporal consciousness superimposition for users of the Chronicle, like you." The two paused, turning to look at Lelouch expectantly. "Lelouch – Holder of the Chronicle, time is short. We, the independent beings who live in the World of C, have determined that the timelines that have once been independent and free are now being forced into a single, unified feedback loop that will threaten its very fabric. You do not know this, but you were meant to, and though you were meant to stop _they _who are the culprits, that did not – or rather will not change the unraveling and subsequent fusion, that which has caused even our limited omniscience from sensing the mist that hangs heavy over your world, and the World of C, because of it."

"What are you talking about? Are you asking something of me? Since my dear sister's death, no, even before that, I am not beholden to _anyone. _I will destroy an empire, or die screaming into the abyss otherwise. I only agreed to play along because I thought the hallucination would end. And I've had enough. Whoever or whatever you are, if you are indeed real, then you must certainly not be immune to Geass, seeing as you're creatures connected with its source. Lelouch commands you, _leave me alone!_"

He expected something to happen. Perhaps the vision of the World of C disappearing, or the figures turning to leave – and leaving him stranded inside the World.

But the pair shook their heads, pointing to the Chronicle. "So long as you hold the power of the Chronicle, your power of absolute obedience will fail, and so will all powers against you. But we are digressing. Why do you refuse, Lelouch? Is the world not important enough to save?"

"The world can go to hell. A warm, kind world... only _she _ever deserved to live in it, and now she's gone. That was my only goal as Lelouch, as Zero, and without it, I am nothing. And so, be damned whatever 'troubling future' you creatures are sensing."

"But with the Chronicle, you can change fate."

He jerked. "_What?_"

"C.C" pointed to the book he held loosely in his hand. "We will make it brief. Using the Chronicle's influence over the World of C, you can exert it to fulfill its function: complete consciousness transfer to any experienced point in _time._"

He gazed suspicously at the book. "This thing? This can make me travel through time?"

"It is not travel per se," "V.V" said hastily. The god-child being flustered was something he thought he'd never see. "As she said, it is only a transportation of consciousness-"

"C.C" made an impatient sound, comically silencing the boy. "It would probably help a skeptic man better brother, if we allow him to experience it first-hand." She turned to face Lelouch. "You are the Holder of the Chronicle. You will know how to use it instinctively. Now go," she pointed up the steps. "Climb up and step through the place above. The Chronicle shall show you the way. Eventually, you may come back here."

Lelouch made a humming sound in the silence that followed. He looked between the two, gauging the expressions on their faces. Then he looked at the book.

_Absurd. _He shook his head. The last page's symbol seemed to be glowing, its text never reaching past one-eights of the page.

"Very well. Whatever will happen, it's been a pleasure meeting you both. Though I'm sure I shall not see you again."

"You will come back," the two of them said simultaneously.

Lelouch snorted, beginning his upward climb. Surprisingly, halfway up he had yet to feel the familiar ache in his legs nor the tired pressure on his chest. In fact, he hadn't felt tired at all.

He was beginning to see the makings of an opening above. Just a little more...

When his feet touched the last step, there was a bright, red flash and then he felt the world dissolve once more, his mind spinning away into a torrid darkness.

* * *

><p>"Brother..."<p>

At the end of one hallucination, yet another. Her voice twisted the blade in my heart so deeply.

"Oi, Lelouch..."

Suzaku... my worst friend and greatest enemy. In time there will be a reckoning...

"Wake up!" He opened his eyes, his mind immediately sensing that something was wrong. The world before him, the canopy of green through which he saw smoke-choked blue sky, the sensation of a hand on his shoulder, the feeling of his body, it all felt real, even as his mind denied it to be so.

"Wha-?"

Suzaku's face appeared suddenly before his, making him jolt backward, which in turn made the back of his head collide with something hard.

"Ow!"

He heard someone gasp, while his vision swam with stars. He flailed his arms as he struggled to stand.

"Geez, Lelouch, can't you be a little less relaxed? It's your turn to carry Nunnally, by the way, so start stepping up. I heard some planes fly overhead a while ago, so we should hurry."

"Are you alright, brother?"

No. This was impossible. He shook his head numbly, staring in blank shock at the two small, young faces he'd all but left behind eight years in the past.

In the past.

He clutched himself. He was young again. He was...he was- but he remembered everything still, Zero, the Rebellion, the Revival, the Betrayal, FLEIJA, and those two...

Lelouch bit the inside of his mouth to stop himself from screaming. Had it all been a dream? No, he knew _he _was here. The sensations, the life he'd lived had been all too real, the memories ingrained deep into him to become undeniable. The images seemed too real and bloody to be part of a child's delusion.

There was one way to test it.

"Suzaku." He turned to his ten-year old friend. "Whatever happens, you must _live._"

* * *

><p>The Chronicle seemed to have worked. The two hadn't been hallucinations (seemingly). Suzaku, and later, a Japanese scout who was waiting in ambush behind a bush and who would have perhaps not taken kindly to three children lost on their way and was ordered to hand over his gun, proved that his Geass was still intact.<p>

So that logically meant that indeed, he had travelled back in time.

If he had his laptop or at least paper on hand, he would've started to write down the things that hurtled through the corridors of his mind.

With a bitter pang in his heart, he embraced Suzaku and Nunnally, holding the latter close so tightly that she'd complained, whispering "I'm glad, I'm glad," over and over until he'd drenched her hair with his tears.

The two didn't seem to think it strange – yes, that was it. They were still enjoying the innocence of youth, unlike him. Suzaku would perhaps be losing his eventually.

Wait, was that it? He turned to look at his friend who lagged behind and was staring at a burned out house along the edge of their path through a field. Was this what he should do. Should he warn his friend about the possibility of his father?

Try as he might, he couldn't. He either couldn't muster the nerve, or his past (or future, never-to-be) experiences would hold him back, reminding him brutally of what they had done to each other.

And then he would fall silent, unable to speak further.

The days passed. Through the hunger and the aches on his body, he'd almost forgotten what it was to be Lelouch of the future, Lelouch-who-was-Zero. They were coming close to the half-way point. A few more hills and they would reach the base where Suzaku's father was. He clearly remembered the tension as the planes roared overhead, as the distant booming like thunder sounded far away behind them.

It was his friend's turn to carry Nunnally. The two were busy discussing the sounds crickets make at night, while he forged on ahead.

Suddenly, he felt a twinge seep into his gut, compelling him to look down. He saw a faint red flash, and a spark like a firefly's light appeared on the ground. When he pointed it out, Suzaku couldn't see it, once again thinking his friend had become too tired to walk.

"No, I don't need to rest. I'm fine, let's just keep moving until _you're _tired, Suzaku."

When they continued, Lelouch spared one last glance behind. The spark was still there.

The trail sidestepped upward and past many tall trees, and twice Lelouch had to stop to get a few breaths in as they made their fight against gravity.

Eventually, Suzaku did call for a rest. It was an hour later before they continued.

Lelouch watched his friend continue his banter with his sister. Maybe this time, I could get him to be my Knight...

He felt himself slam into something, and his small body rebounded from the sudden obstruction. He uttered a small cry.

"Lelouch!"

"Well, well, what do we have here... Britannian kids, all alone in the forest. And what's this – you've roped a kid to be your mule?" A hand grabbed his collar, and his eyes widened to see a group of tired-looking Japanese soldiers leering at him.

"Please excuse us!" Suzaku said. "I am Kururugi Suzaku, son of the prime minister! These two are guests at my father's house, so please let us pass!"

"I don't give a rat's ass if you were the Divine Emperor himself in the rotting flesh, boy. Tie them up. We're getting them back to camp."

"No!" Lelouch shouted, struggling against the guy's grasp. He stared determinedly into the group's eyes. "Release me!"

"Yes, my lord." Suzaku looked at him, bewildered while the man let him go. He nodded grimly, adjusting his collar. _Move. _Suzaku straightened up a worried-looking Nunnally on his back, and began to run.

"Hey, they're running!" Lelouch felt his gut shoot up into his throat, his eyes widening in savaged disbelief as two shots rang out.

The two crumpled to the ground.

"No! You bastards, you killed- not again- she's-" He choked, rushing to beat the closest soldier futilely with his small fists. His emotions strangled what common sense and logic was left in his mind. The soldiers were already moving away, seemingly oblivious to him.

"Nunnally!" He hastened to their side. Blood.

No, damnit, not again!

"Lelouch..." Suzaku said through pained breaths. The influence of Geass was making his friend's body tremble under the dead weight. "Sorry I couldn't 'live'... Heh, take care of Nunnally... for me..."

"Suzaku!" He clutched for his friend's hand. "Nunnally!" His sister was silent, face buried in Suzaku's clothes.

What kind of sick joke was this? How could fate fuck them over just like that?

He felt the Chronicle's power resonate through him. It was cold, but soothing. He stood.

"No. This should not be. This isn't how it should end." The familiar sensation of Geass surged through him, and then came the bright red flash. "By my curse, I use you, O Chronicle, to undo what can be undone."

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><p>"You've returned, Lelouch."<p>

He was Lelouch once more, clad as Zero. He stood before the staircase, the two mysterious beings now sitting on top of the pillars standing on either side of the staircase.

He couldn't suppress a shiver, his mouth locking up inside him. He clenched the glove-clad hands.

"Go save them, then. We shall wait for your return."

"See how he learns from experience, brother."

He ran up the stairs.

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><p>"No, I don't need to rest. I'm fine, let's just keep moving until <em>you're <em>tired, Suzaku."

Lelouch blinked. He was back at the forest edge. A few more feet forward, and there'd be that band of trigger-happy soldiers again.

"Suzaku, let's go this way," he called, pointing down another path, less beaten than the one they were on.

"Are you sure? It's a lot more open-"

"Let's just go."

The rest of the journey ended without any further surprises. The trail was far more difficult to maneuver, covered in mud and rocky protrusions, but they made it out. It was just as he remembered it had happened. It was as it should have been.

In the base, he and Nunnally were taken into custody as Suzaku was collected by his father. He watched the tension through close-lidded eyes, preparing himself for the (inevitable?) change when next they would meet.

"Brother?" Nunnally asked worriedly. He patted her head reassuringly.

"We'll have to wait for just a few more, Nunnally. I'm hoping Father will collect us now." He wouldn't, of course. Or at least, they wouldn't go out their way to contact any Britannian force in the days of the occupation. That was how it had happened. Area Eleven would be born.

But what if it wouldn't? What if he would change things, seeing as history was changeable here? He'd resolved to lay low once more with the Ashfords until he was sufficiently grown to don the costume and maybe begin his career as Zero just a bit earlier.

And yet, he could return. Beg apologies from his father, running the risk of him and Nunnally being used as mere objects once more, but hoping for the chance of acquiring power in the Britannian hierarchy? A lowly prince, but a Prince all the same. As Suzaku said, "change it from within".

Whatever he would choose, he thought. He at least would have Geass. At the thought of his power, the questions began to emerge. Why wasn't it always active as it should have been? Why did he still have it, if the physical him hadn't yet been in contact with the real C.C?

And yet...

As he lay hugging Nunnally close to him in their small, apportioned cell, Lelouch felt the familiar sensation of the Chronicle, and after another faint red flash, there was a spark on the far wall. He stared at it in suspicion.

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><p>"I see you have sufficiently learned what you could of the Chronicle, Lelouch," "C.C" greeted when he came back to the towering ruins. "Are you satisfied with its power?"<p>

"Why have you given me this?" he demanded.

"As you seemed to have glossed over, we need you. In simpler terms, we have foreseen a possible future degradation of the World of C. As if in response, the World bid the Chronicle come forth, an antibody, if you will, that resides in the Womb of Akasha. With it, a worthy chosen mortal will use the power of the World to enact miracles, just as you, in your capacity of Zero has done. And to follow in the Chronicle's awakening, we manifested."

"I assume you are the ones tasked to choose the mortal of choice."

"Indeed," the boy-child replied. "Due to the nature of the predicted distortion, we have opted to choose worthy mortals who lived closest to the estimated time in the future. It was easy to choose, in retrospect."

"Kouzuki Kallen, Kururugi Suzaku, Gino Weinberg, even Cornelia li Britannia were considered prospects," "C.C" said. "But even with their qualities, we deemed them unable to carry out the supreme task of carrying the tangled threads of the future to its better conclusion. They lack the...shall we say willpower to pursue the World's favored end."

"And so you came to Zero."

"The nature of the temporal distortion is known to us," they said in unison now. "But there are rules, even in the World of C. There are always rules. We are not allowed to speak of or tell you how the solution may present itself. We may only advise you on the merits of your future decisions in using the Chronicle."

"Why send me far back?"

"That we cannot answer. Look at the Chronicle for it." He opened the back, flipping past to the last page. The page was now completely filled with the text, and though Lelouch was an expert reader, he found it difficult to read the small text clearly. He caught scenes and glimpses of all that had happened to him, including a section of the page in blood-red that made his heart clench, for it detailed how Suzaku and Nunnally had died.

"That, Lelouch, is a completed section. Notice the sigil glows brightly. It means that the World of C has deemed your actions in that particular time period sufficient enough to contribute to the logical pathway to the future. You may return to it at any time. Just as you can easily return here."

"Why- or rather, how do those sparks keep coming up?" asked Lelouch. "If I'd hazard a guess, they're doorways to this place – the World of C."

"There are always rules," "V.V" repeated. "You cannot easily transmit your consciousness to just any point in time. Call the areas and moments where you can see a spark 'checkpoints' if you will. These are the sections that the Chronicle deems safe enough for you to travel here and back to the world freely."

"It is necessary to remember-"

"Hold that thought." Lelouch began climbing.

* * *

><p>"No, I don't need to rest. I'm fine, let's just keep moving until <em>you're <em>tired, Suzaku."

"Hmm." Lelouch watched as Suzaku waddled up the path, oblivious to his friend staying behind.

He looked back at the spark on the ground.

* * *

><p>"You've returned, Lelouch. Experimenting?"<p>

"Validating a theory." He held up the book. "Does this ever run out of energy?"

"As long as you are alive, the book will never fail," "C.C" replied. She held up a finger. "That's one thing you must remember, Lelouch. You must never, under any circumstances whatsoever, die. Your body and soul must remain intact for the Chronicle to exact his miracle."

"Easy enough." His flippant reply was met with a tense silence. "I've survived this long."

"Yes, you are indeed resourceful. But ever account for situations when you cannot use Geass."

Lelouch turned to the next page. There was a new symbol, and the page was slowly filling out like a slowly ticking hourglass. "What must I do next? Do I spend a whole seven more years, give or take, for me to make my next move? Could I not simply skip to before the Black Knight's betrayal, or before Euphie-" _Euphie. _If he could use the Chronicle, then the SAZ could-

"The Chronicle will show the way," they said cryptically. "As long as the Chronicle allows it, you may. From here on out, this is your story, Lelouch. We only request that give your all for it. We have put our trust in you. Do not forget your duty."

"I won't. More than anything, I thank you, beings of the World. I'll have to think carefully on the paths that will be presented to me."

He looked back down at the thrumming source of power in his hand. He held it up, imitating the stance of an old tutor.

"Hear me, O Chronicle! Heed my plea! Hear the desires of my heart!"

The Knightmare controls were warm in his hands. He was clad in his Ashford uniform, clutching a radio walkie-talkie.

Outside, the sounds of battle raged. Shinjuku Ghetto. The terrorists. Prince Clovis.

Kallen. C.C.

So this was what the Chronicle decided? He looked down, surprised to see the book suddenly appear on top of the transceiver interface. He went to flip to the last page, but was surprised to see another new page halfway through.

-_It was a warm day in Shinjuku when the Third Prince, Clovis la Britannia, responded to a terrorist act with the full force of the-_

With this much power in his hands, he would be unstoppable! Lelouch laughed and laughed and laughed. Fate could not stop him now- not when time was his to command!

* * *

><p>AN: A one-shot burning a whole in Vivian's thumb drive for a good four months. I remember writing this while doing some light research for <em>Weiss and Human. <em>Obviously a mere one-shot, but could be expanded if I feel like it.

And kudos to those who got the crossover, you are fellow comrades!


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